Coal carbonizing apparatus



(Oct. 2, 1934. J. B. JENSON 1,975,395

COAL CARBONIZING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 19. 1931 r 3 Sheets-Sheet l n )2as n 7 4 Zamer Fame;-

Burner INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Oct. 2, 1934. J. B. JENSON 1,975,396

COAL CARBONIZING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 19, 195i 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Earner 3V k Wm ,Bwrrzar I? I Ea n/er F 7 Y Y 1 Y A ZWMP/ 5 F i a JHMES.B..]N50/V INVENTOR ATTORN EY Oc J. B. JENSON 95 COAL CARBONIZINGAPPARATUS Fi led, Nov. 19, 1931 38heets-Sheet a Jmris B. JENSO/Y.INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 2, 1934 1,975,396 oo CABBONIZINGAPPARATUS James B. Jonson, Salt Lake City, Utah, assignor of one-fourthto J. A. .Marks, Boise, Idaho Application November 19, 1931, Serial No.576,144 4 Claims. (01. 202-108) In the usual coking process for coal,the coal, which is of a bituminous character, is placed into a retortand heated until'the volatile matter is driven 01f, the residue beinglargely a highly carbonaceous material, which is produced in a sinteredcondition which cracks'oii from the walls of the retort when the retortis cooled. In the coking process the entire physical structure of thecoal from which the coke is produced has of course been changed and theresulting coke is ignitableonly with difliculty in domestic heatingappliances since there is usually not sufficient draft to start thecombustion of the coke.

In the present case one of the objects is to produce from a bituminouscoal, a residue which differs from the usual form of coke in that thephysical structure of the original coal is not appreciably altered andthe resulting product is easily ignitable and usable in domesticappliances without the formation of any smoke or soot.

A second object involves the treatment of the volatile material in amanner generally similar to the well known Berginization method whereinthe volatile components are acted upon by chemical agents, especiallyhydrogen, to produce products similar to petroleum products. In thepresent instance this is accomplished by treating the components of thevolatile matter in the coal with hydrogen at suitable temperatures andpressures so as to eiiect a hydrogenation of the unsaturatedconstituents of the aforesaid volatile matter. I

The present process further differs from the coking process as usuallycarried out in that in the present process the retorts containing thecoal are heated internallyinstead of externally, and as the coal is thusdestructively distilled, a current of dry steam is passed through a bedof coal, the coal reducing the steam into a mixture of hydrogen andcarbonic oxide. The excess steam with the hydrogen and carbonic oxidegases intermingle with the volatile matters in the coal, and theunsaturated components thereof become hydrogenated and thus convertedinto hydrocarbons of the paraffin series. .,The residuum remaining fromthe treatment is found tobe coke-like in heating quality, but theoriginal structure of the coal is still retained,.and this residue isalso easily ignitable' in ordinary domestic appliances andburns'withevolution of a :high degree of heat'butwithout production ofsoot or smoke. The residue becomes cellular and of honeycombstructurethrough the devolatilization and passing out of the hydrocarbonportions of the coal leaving a residue of approximately to 75% of theweight of the coal.

The process involved in this invention is car-' ried out by heating aportion of the coal to a suitable temperature, for example approximately1400 F. Dry steam from a suitable source is brought into contact withhot coal, thus decomposing the steam into its elements, the oxygencombining with the'carbon of the coal to form carbonic oxides and thehydrogen remaining free; Both this hydrogen and carbonic oxide arereducing agents and the mixture of gases as it passes upwardsthrough-the hotbed of coal becomes supereheated and it is then passedthrough fresh raw coal, thus removing the volatiles therefrom. Ofcourse'the water gases produced by the action of the steam on the coalmay be purifiedand reused at a slow speed. 'A'certain amount of the freehydrogen of course is utilized in hydrogenating the unsaturatedconstituents of the volatile materials 'as above pointed out, andconverts them in this fashion into saturated hydrocarbon of the natureof crude oil, which may be recovered and fractionated in the usualpractice in the order of refining. .Of course as the vapors arecondensed as they issue from the retort, there will be three fractionswhich may be either separated as they are condensed, or may be drawnoil? together Thesefractions are in their order of condensation,a heavyparaflin fraction, a middle oil fraction, and a gasoline or light oilfraction. There is of course a residue-of noncondensable gas which ispassed through a scrubberfor removal of all gasoline-like products. Thisnon-condensable gas is composed largely of the residual water gaspassing unchanged through the system, and it may be stored and used as asource of heat, and will ordinarily range from 350 to 650 B. t. u., butmay be made as high as 1100 B. t. u. per cubic foot when needed.

The oil is poured into tanks after it is condensed and comparesfavorably with petroleum that comes from the wells and is treated in thesame fashion as petroleum.- Whatever nitrogen there is inthe: coalis'converted to ammonia 100 which is of course recoverable as ammoniumsulphate'or any other valuable ammoniacal composition.

vIn treatment, the coal' is passed through the retort in a continuousstream from whence it is discharged on to a travelling conveyor whichplaces the finished residue in storage reaclyfor delivery. During thetreatment there is a certain amount of cracking of the hydrocarbonderivablefrom the coal, with attendant deposicoal in the distillationchamber. begins its dissociation and this dissociation betion of carbonso that the fixed carbon in the residue in addition to the increasedpercentage through devolatilization, has increased over and above thatof the original coal, which obviously increases the calorific power ofthe product and thereby enables the use of a correspondingly smallerquantity of fuel for the production of the same amount of heatwherever'this novel product is to be used.

As above pointed out, the retorts in which the coal is treated areheated internally, which results in there being no fusing together ofthe.-

resulting product which is formed and recovered as a product having anopen honeycombed structure capable of absorbing air and therefore igniting freely and burning with a long flame, but without production ofsmoke or soot. v

The internal heating of the retort assures uniform heating of thematerial being treated, thus assuring the maximum efficiency and highestyield of product. In the carrying out of the process, the coal is heatedalmost entirely transversely through the bed and through a comparativelythin wall of the material. It therefore does not become necessary toscreen out fines as the heating medium, in passing through the wall,comes into contact with every particle of material whether coarse orfine, and removes volatiles therefrom alike in all parts in the retort.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a verticalsectional view through the treating retort of a form suitable for use inconnection with this invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line 22-22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a composite horizontal sectional view, the left-hand half ofwhich is a half-section on line 23 of Fig. 1, and the right-hand half ahalf-section on line 24 of Fig.

Referring more particularly to the drawings and the operation of theretort, coal is introduced into the tube of the generator or gasproducer 1 and allowed to rest on the grate 2 supporting the charge, andthe shaft is filled onehalf or two-thirds full of preferably finecoalslack. The burners 3 operating in the combustion chamber 4 are thenignited and the brick structure heated up gradually. When the coal inthe generator 5 has reached a temperature of for example from 500 to 600F., a small amount of steam is drawn from a boiler or other suitablesource of steam, and permitted to pass through the coil 6 and thencethrough inlets 15 into the shaft of the gas generator to contact withfine coal placed in the generator 5. The burner flames are thenincreased and the coal is more rapidly heated until it reaches atemperature of approximately 1480 F. The steam flow is then increased tothe amount required to produce the amount. of gas necessary to heat theamount of The steam now comes more rapid as the heat increases, formingtree hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,

and oxygen, which gases pass upwardly together to the upper part of thegenerator, following the conduit '7' in the brick-work of the generator,whichconduit leads downwardly towards the bottom of the distillationchamber 8. At this point it crosses transversely through openings 7aover to the lower part of the coal contained in the distillation chamberuntil it reaches the'tapered vacuum tube 9 placed in the center of thisdistillation chamber. The gaseous material then passes upward in thevacuum chamber toward the plate 10 which closes the inside of the vacuumtube. The gas now partly cooled through contact with the coal in thelower part of the distillation chamber passes transversely through thecoal to the openings 19a in the brick wall and is drawn into the secondconduit 11, then it rises upwardly and passes again transversely throughthe openings 11a intoand through the coal to the upper compartment ofthe vacuum chamber 12. The v'ap'ors from the lower part of the coalcolumn now contain some heavy oil vapors, which condense on the coolerpart of the column of coal and pass down to the hotter zone where thehigh tempera.- ture cracks them into oil of lower boiling point,

whereby the products again pass upwardly in the gas flow. There is alsoof course a deposition of fixed carbon resulting from this cracking thatremains on the coal, while the vapors are drawn out through thecirculating pipe 13 from the upper part of the vacuum chamber and thencethrough the condenser system ,where condensation of the vapors takesplace, but which is not shown. The oil is then drawn oil to thecontainers and the wet non-condensable gases pass on through scrubberswhere the remaining light oil is absorbed and the non-condensable gasespass on to the gas receiver to be used for heating and such otherpurposes as desired.

It will therefore be seen that the steam is decomposed in a chamberseparate and distinct from the main body of coal being distilled. Thechamber containing the coal to be processed is relatively larger thanthe gas producing chamher and is located on a level with and by the sideof the gas producen The walls of the shaft 5 are built of fire brickwhich when properly laid in masonry form openings running transverselythrough the wall and connect with a vertical longi- Q tudinal chamberleading from the tube of the generator containing the coal to be heatedunder the generation of the gas. Within the center of the distillationchamber 8 there is positioned'a smaller shaft built from cast ironplates running lengthwise and horizontally through the center of theshaft and having longitudinal. openings between each pipe, theseopenings being formed by the overlapping of the plates being spacedapart, forming louvers. gases and the gases and vapors ofvolatilizationto pass between the plates and through the openings to the inside of thetube, which is connected to a suitable source of suction which tendstocreate a suction in a shaft for the withdrawal of This allows theheating i the gases and vapors of volatilization. The paths of thegaseous products through. the retort are indicated on the drawings byarrows, which show the direction of travel. a

It will be observed'that between.

the heating I walls of the gas producer and the walls containing thesteam pipe 6 there are positioned a series of baiiie platesl whichbaiiies are preferably of T-shape and serve for the distribution of heatfor equal heating of both walls.

" h bottom. of the distillation chamber 3 there is provided suitableequipment, not shown, which automatically removes the product as soon asit is processed, thus also permitting fresh coal to enter the tube ofthe distillation chamber as 3 rapidly as the treated coal is removedfrom the bottom. It will also be understood that coal is automaticallyfed into the tube of the gas producer as rapidly as it becomes consumedin the production of gas.

As the coal in the chamber 8 becomes devolatilized, it is removed asaforesaid, as treated, and permits simultaneous introduction ofuntreated coal into the distillation chamber automatically.

The uniform contacting and heating of the coal particles, whether largeor small, makes the process very rapid, and, through the dissociation ofthe steam, there is produced a comparatively large volume of heatinggases and hydrogen with fresh hydrogen constantly circulating in thedistillation chamber.

In view of the fact that the carbon of the volatile material in the coalcombines with hydrogen much more rapidly than with oxygen, there is aselective combination with the hydrogen to produce the petroleum-likeproduct with high content of paraffin hydrocarbon as previouslymentioned.

It will be understood that while coal is the material specificallydescribed in connection with this process, the process is equallyapplicable with all generally similar materials such as lignite, peat,shale, and similar products which are capable of destructivedistillation.

It will be understood also that the invention is susceptible of beingperformed by processes in which the steps are capable of modificationfrom the above specifically described procedure without departing fromthe inventive concept. It will accordingly be understood that it isdesired to embrace within the scope of this invention such modificationsand changes as may be necessary to adapt it to varying conditions anduses.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-- 1. An apparatus ofthe character described comprising a gas producing chamber, adistillation chamber spaced from the gas producing chamber, parallelpassages in the wall between the two chambers, one of said passagesleading from the first chamber to the bottom of the second, a hollowcolumn member within the distillation chamber defining a suction chamberand having ports at intervals therethrough communicating with thedistillation chamber, the other of said passages receiving the gasesfrom the bottom of the column member and leading the gases through thecoal in the distillation chamber tothe top part of the suction chamberof said column member, and means for producing suction through thesuction chamber and thence through the distillation and gas producingchambers.

2. An apparatus for distilling coal and the like,

comprising a casing having shafts therein defining a gas producingchamber and a distillation chamber, the said chambers being adapted tore: ceive a quantity of coal therein, means for externally heating thegas producing chamber above devolatilization temperature of the coaltherein,

means for introducing steam into the gas producing chamber adjacent thebottom thereof for subjecting the heated coal to the steam as the coalis devolatilized, thereby producing a highly heated gaseous mixture,conduits for leading the said gaseous mixture from the gas producingchamber into the distillation chamber adjacent the bottom thereof, meansfor creating suction through the distillation chamber, and means forcausing a zig-zag penetration of the said coal in the distillationchamber by the said highly heated gaseous mixture, thereby producing adistillation of the coal by the said mixture.

3. An apparatus for distilling coal and the like, comprising a casinghaving shafts therein defining a gas producing chamber and adistillation chamber, each of the said chambers being adapted to containa column of coal, burners disposed vertically adjacent the distillationchamber but exteriorly thereof for externally heating the said chamberand coal contained therein to a temperature above devolatilization ofthe coal, a steam coil disposed around the said gas producing chamberand opening into the chamber adjacent the bottom thereof to therebysubject the column of coal therein to the said steam as the coal becomesdevolatilized, to thereby produce a highly heated gaseous mixture,conduits for leading the said mixture from the gas producing chamberinto 7 the distillation chamber, means for producing 105 suction throughthe chambers, and means for causing the said gaseous mixture to travelin a zig-zag direction upwardly through the coal in the distillationchamber to distill the said coal bythe heat of the said gaseous mixture.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a gas producingchamber, means for externally heating the chamber, a distillationchamber communicating with the gas producing chamber and adapted toreceive gaseous products therefrom, a hollow column member within thedistillation chamber defining a vertical suction chamber adapted to besurrounded by coal, a partition extending across the suction chamber anddividing the said chamber into upper and 12 lower compartments, the saidcompartments being provided with ports communicating with thedistillation chamber, a conduit surrounding the distillation chamber andextending above and below the plane of the said partition and com- 125municating at intervals with the distillation chamber, and means forproducing suction through the suction chamber and thence through thedistillation and gas producing chambers, said conduit, ports andpartition being arranged so as 130 to pass the gas from the producingchamber back and forth through the coal in the distillation chamberbefore discharge therefrom.

